The exorbitant prices of Dodgers World Series tickets

Around 1 pm on Wednesday, the Dodgers emailed that World Series tickets for a potential series against either the Cleveland Guardians or the likely-representative (it is amazing how fast life comes at you sometimes) New York Yankees would go on sale at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday.

By mid-afternoon, the Los Angeles Times reported that the tickets were largely sold out for all four games.

The lowest prices for upper-deck tickets, which came directly from the team, were around $900. The team is currently providing a link to the secondary market through SeatGeek. The current lowest price for a ticket in Game 1 is just over $1,000, and it is located in the upper deck by the foul poles. Three years ago, these same tickets for a potential World Series game cost about half as much.

Normally, I would never recommend sitting here, but sometimes beggars cannot be choosers.

These ticket prices are dynamic and the main inflationary forces affecting ticket prices right now are the Dodgers’ first Fall Classic appearance since the COVID pandemic and the oncoming collision course between the Yankees and Dodgers.

The Dodgers and Yankees have not faced each other in the World Series since the strike-shortened year of 1981, 43 years ago. The Dodgers won in 6 and Ron Cey, Pedro Guerrero, and Steve Yeager with the trio of Most Valuable Players.

While prices would likely dip a little if the Guardians prevailed, MLB is responsible for setting prices for playoff tickets, among other factors like game management, running the games, and paying rent to the home team for use of the stadium.

Out of curiosity, I checked to see if the Yankees or Guardians had put their World Series tickets up for sale. The Yankees have and they are sold out. The available prices via Ticketmaster were a range of $1,100 to $1,750, and, as per usual, the Yankees are geolocking sales of tickets to residents of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.

The Guardians have not put their tickets up for sale yet. I believe that these Guardians tickets would only go on sale if the Guardians advance.

Pay the piper

Admittedly, getting playoff and World Series tickets is an entirely different animal than getting regular season tickets, even premium ones. There is a legitimate argument that MLB is pricing regular fans out of attending the most important games of the sport.

No one should have to make what is essentially a rent payment to sit in the upper deck of any game. I am mindful that ticket prices are like real estate: it all comes down to location, location, location.

I understand that sitting at the Loge at Dodger Stadium should cost more than the upper deck. But should that cost equal a small used car (about $2,500 to $3,000, based on current listings on the secondary market)?

As I wrote about in my amateur adventures, before joining the staff here, I had World Series tickets for a potential Game 6 and 7 for about 24 hours. Both tickets combined cost about $1,200 and these seats were in the upper deck with no rhyme or reason as to location as I felt a closeness to the 2021 team because of all the games and cities I went to, warts and all.

As a comparison, I spent about $800 to sit atop the Green Monster in Boston for the finale of the series where Mookie Betts returned to Beantown for the first time. Ironically enough, seats in that section went up to $1,300/ticket as I recall. That seat was easily the most I ever paid in the regular season.

I have often decried the “Dodger tax” that I have to pay when I go see the Dodgers on the road. The truth is that it is often significantly cheaper for me to go see the Dodgers elsewhere than in the confines of Our Blue Heaven unless I am willing to entirely abandon a decent view of the game.

It is okay to pay for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

But no one should have to go into debt to enjoy something that they love. As an aside, if a team is eliminated before the scheduled game occurs, the team refunds the purchase price within 1-2 weeks.

On that note, for everyone’s sanity, I abstained from getting tickets for this upcoming World Series at Dodger Stadium, even though an elimination was not possible on Friday night. If the Dodgers advance, I will revisit the issue.

For me, any postseason shenanigans are wholly dependent on the Dodgers getting there and finishing the job — preferably today in Queens.

If you think about it, the Dodgers are a Landon Knack-clunker away from their first World Series birth since the COVID Cup of 2020. But one cannot view life like that. The Dodgers are entirely in command of the NLCS and have Jack Flaherty on the bump to start what is hopefully the final game in Queens in 2024.

If both the League Championship series end in five games, the Fall Classic will be moved from Friday, October 25 to Tuesday, October 22, which is a first for MLB.

We will provide updates as necessary, depending on which teams advance to this year’s Fall Classic.